Ft Wayne Times

Today, after the Army responded to Chairman of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee Jim Banks and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Mike Rogers' letter regarding leaked "anti-terror" training given to soldiers at Fort Liberty that described pro-life organizations like National Right to Life as "terrorist groups," Rep. Banks released a statement.

Rep. Banks stated: "The DOD taught nearly ten thousand soldiers stationed at Fort Liberty that pro-life organizations, like the National Right to Life, are dangerous terrorist groups. It’s downright ridiculous to claim the slide deck doesn’t ‘further a personal viewpoint,’ but there have been no consequences for the employee who ran anti-life training sessions at Fort Liberty that clearly violated Army policy. The Biden-Harris DOD won’t back off its efforts to politicize our military. Until that changes, I will keep pushing the DOD to reject far-left politics and focus on fighting and winning wars, including at next week’s hearing."

Mike Fichter, President of Indiana Right to Life, commented: "It is stunning to learn of the U.S. Army’s admission that pro-life groups have been identified as terrorist organizations in presentations at Ft. Liberty going back to 2017. How could something like this have continued without any red flags or corrective actions? After seven years of malicious misrepresentation of pro-life organizations, it appears no one will receive even the slightest reprimand for such an outrageous affront to the pro-life community. It is easy to surmise the Army’s response is a reflection of the Biden administration’s ongoing politicizing of the U.S. military."

Approximately 9,100 soldiers were trained using this presentation between 2017 and early July 2024 when photos of the training went viral. An initial Army response said the training had only been shown to 47 soldiers at Fort Liberty but indicated they would conduct an investigation for additional information.

The Army's letter claims: "The slides were not reviewed or approved at any level of Fort Liberty [Department of Emergency Services] leadership." Additionally, it states: "There is no evidence indicating the individual who developed and presented the training attempted to deliberately subvert DOD or Army policy, nor any evidence to suggest the individual attempted to further a personal viewpoint through the presentation." The Army says it has "publicly disavowed" the training and claims it is establishing a process to review locally-created training materials for compliance with national DOD guidance.

The slide deck was created in 2011 by a local base employee and was apparently not used until 2017.

This upcoming Thursday, July 19th, Chairman Jim Banks will host a hearing on the Army's recently adopted extremism policies.

The Army issued an expansive directive addressing extremism in June 2024 despite findings from the Department of Defense indicating that “extremism” is less common among active duty servicemembers than in the general population.

Secretary Austin has ignored a requirement in Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act mandating a report on costs associated with “extremism training.”

Rep. Banks previously criticized Navy recommendations for including what he termed as far-left extremist literature on its reading list.